All Wounds

by Dina James

  His pleading. His hurt and regret and helplessness. Rebecca could feel them all, and her heart broke with them.

  “Promise me I will not regret it.”

  Where did that come from? Rebecca had spoken the phrase as though she’d known exactly what to say when asked such a question.

  Sydney smiled with relief and looked to Nana. “Untrained she might be, but a Healer nonetheless,” he said in approval. He looked to Rebecca.

  Her insides tightened as he smiled at her. Her mouth went dry and she bit her bottom lip. What? Why is he looking at me like that?

  “Promising,” he went on as he turned to Nana. “She’ll learn quickly, if such knowledge is that easy to tap.” He turned back to Rebecca. “Upon my honor, my lady,” he said and offered her a slight bow. “I promise that you will not regret your actions.”

  Rebecca nodded, still unsure, but knew something had been done correctly. Then, without thinking about what she was doing, she rolled up her sleeve and went to the bed. Her earlier nervousness—what had there been to be nervous about?—vanished. Her pulse beat beneath the skin of her wrist, warm against the cool air of the enclave.

  Ryan’s eyes opened and fluttered. He mumbled incoherently.

  “Hey, Stereotype,” Rebecca called. “I hear you didn’t eat lunch. Did you get banned from the cafeteria, so that now I have to feed your sorry butt?” Ryan didn’t reply, but the confusion in his dark eyes seemed to lessen as they found her face.

  She smiled down at him as she pressed her wrist against Ryan’s mouth.

  She looked away, over her shoulder and waited.

  I can’t believe I’m doing this, she thought.

  Believe it, she heard Syd’s voice in her mind.

  Rebecca looked up at him, startled. Syd couldn’t help but grin back at her.“You have much to learn, Acolyte.”

  “Ouch!” Rebecca gasped as Ryan’s fangs pierced her wrist.

  Then the pain faded, and she felt nothing. She really expected to feel something...but there wasn’t anything at all. She didn’t feel weak or dizzy, or like something was being taken away from her. On the contrary, she felt...

  really, really good. Helpful and...and...

  “Nurturing?” Sydney said out loud.

  Rebecca blushed and nodded. “I guess that’s as good a word for it as any.” She closed her eyes, but there wasn’t the usual darkness behind them.

  Instead there was...something. Darkness, yes, but...things...moving in the dark. Shapes and fire and flame and—

  Rebecca gasped and her eyes flew open. Nana came to rest her hands on Rebecca’s shoulders.

  “You’re strong,” Nana said. “Stronger even than I was, I think. It’s all right. He won’t take much, this first time, but he’ll need more over the next couple of days.”

  “Days?” Rebecca echoed. “Doesn’t this take—I don’t know—just a few minutes?”

  “This isn’t Hollywood,” Sydney said with a roll of his dark blue eyes.

  “You don’t get bitten by a vampire then change in moments to bite your friends.”

  “Well...no offense, but isn’t that kind of what just happened?” Rebecca countered. She pointed to the wrist Ryan had pressed to his mouth.

  “Point taken,” Sydney replied. “However, he won’t remember himself for a couple of days.” Sydney glanced up at Nana. “Though something tells me you’re accustomed to people not remembering themselves.” Rebecca felt Nana’s hands on her shoulders tighten slightly before Ryan dropped her wrist and began to tremble.

  “That’s enough,” she heard Nana say. “Move away now.” Rebecca did as she was told, and Sydney reached for the damp cloth as Ryan’s trembling once again escalated into convulsions.

  “Is it going to be like this until he’s...um...converted, or whatever?” Rebecca asked in a whisper.

  Nana nodded and pressed a cloth to Rebecca’s bleeding wrist. “Mmm hmm. But don’t worry. He’s with us now, and safe. Comfortable. But it’s also very late, and you have school tomorrow.”

  Rebecca looked horrified.

  “Nana,” she reasoned. “You can’t possibly—”

  Nana held up a hand, an old familiar gesture that said she was through talking about a subject.

  “I can,” Nana said, firm. “Your wrist will be healed by morning, and Syd will stay and help me set up a privacy partition for Ryan. Rebecca, you can help in the evenings, after your chores and schoolwork are done, not before.

  It will be a lot of hard work, but you’ll likely be trained enough in a year or so of hard study that we can tell the Council you’re ready to be mentored.

  That’s not too long for you to help out here, is it, Syd?”

  “A year? ” Rebecca squeaked.

  Syd voiced the same protest.

  Nana folded her arms and looked stern. “Sydney Alexander, you came seeking a Healer, and you’ve found one untrained. Rebecca Charlotte, you have a great deal to learn and a vast amount of power to harness. You’ll be lucky if a year is all it takes. And that’s just the bare minimum! Remember, you should have been studying the basics with me for at least a dozen years by now. Most Healers begin at age five. I’m sorry this is late, but if it’s what you both want, it’s all or nothing.”

  Syd looked mutinous.

  Rebecca was just as unhappy as he looked, but asked, “Will you be more like your old self, Nana? I mean...with him around?” She jerked her head in Syd’s direction.

  Nana nodded. Syd looked skyward.

  “Then that’s worth a year of...Blondie...and ‘hard work’ to me.” Rebecca glared at Syd out of the corner of her eye.

  The vampire groaned. “And I suppose, Martha, since I owe you my own existence and those of my various clan members more than once over, a mortal year isn’t so long a time, especially if it is given to train the granddaughter of Martha Althea in the art of Healing. Provided, that is, she works hard and doesn’t waste my valuable time.”

  Oh, that was it. She was done trying to be nice to this guy. He sounded just like one of those jerks at school. She knew now what she’d seen behind her eyes when Ryan had bitten her, and it wasn’t like this guy didn’t have anything to do with Ryan being hurt. All Rebecca’s patience left.

  “Valuable time? How about provided you don’t go around getting anyone else I know bitten by hellhounds!” Rebecca retorted.

  Sydney stiffened and found a corner of the room very interesting all of a sudden.

  Nana glared at him.

  “So that’s what Lord Notharion meant. You were provoking hellhounds?” Nana asked in a brittle voice.

  “Wonderful,” Sydney mumbled. “She’s a Seer as well.” Nana looked at Rebecca and smiled. She didn’t seem a bit surprised at her granddaughter’s talent.

  “It’s an uncommon gift among Healers, Sydney,” Nana replied. “But not unheard of. It had been three generations since there’s been a Seer in our line. Rebecca’s great-great grandmother, Agnes, was one. I always knew Rebecca was special.”

  Then Nana seemed to remember what Rebecca had been subject to seeing with that special power and glared at Syd.

  “You show up here, with a wounded boy—” Nana began.

  It had always made Rebecca cringe when Nana took that tone.

  Sydney held up a hand. Rebecca was starting to wonder if that wasn’t some kind meaningful gesture instead of what it normally meant to her.

  Both Nana and Syd had used the motion more than once.

  “Can we please not talk about that?” he asked. “I know, this is my fault. However, the truce hasn’t been broken. That is, it hasn’t been broken yet. There have been reports of demons massing near the southern border of their realm. Nothing has been said to the clans—no declaration of open war has been issued to or by the Council, and though there hasn’t been any encroachment on or breach of the borders, I’ve been around long enough and through enough Ethereal wars to know what this means. I, for one, will acknowledge the threat even if the Council won’t, and I assu
re you, as sure as I’m standing here before you, war will break among the planes before the mortal week is out. We’re going to need all the Healers—all the enclaves—we have at our disposal just to have a chance at holding a demon raid off long enough to get any females and young away. Without the Eastern enclave, there’s no Healer or boundary in this part of the mortal plane, and shifting through the planes is dangerous with those who are wounded...” Sydney caught Nana’s disgusted glare and trailed off, looking completely ashamed.

  “Two years. For your serious lack of judgment,” Nana said imperiously.

  “Then she can begin her apprenticeships in earnest. Late, but there’s nothing to be done about that.”

  “Yes, Ma’am.” Syd hung his head. “Two years indebted to your service.

  To train your replacement, at least until she’s suitable for mentoring. I believe Kyle has the honor next.”

  “Good,” Nana said with a frustrated sigh. “At least Kyle has a modicum of sense, which is more than I can say for you at the moment. Rebecca?

  Bedtime. It’s well past midnight, and a school night.” Rebecca didn’t have to be told twice as she hurried out of the hidden healing “enclave,” as Sydney had called it, and down to her own bedroom.

  Two years. Two years of Nana being herself again. Wow. And Blondie was kind of cute. Okay...more than “kind of.” He was totally cute.

  She couldn’t wait to tell Robin all about him.

  chApter Four

  “...on this fine Wednesday morning! Bundle up today, it’s going to be a cold one...!”

  Morning radio hosts should be forced to wake up to other perky morning radio hosts, Rebecca thought before she opened her eyes and smacked her alarm clock into silence. Just once she’d like to wake up to actual music instead of some annoyingly cheerful voice telling her about the day’s weather. Of course, unless she changed the time she got up, and she couldn’t do that now with all she did in preparation for the day in the mornings, she was stuck with irritating energetic radio personalities. They seemed to be on every station in the morning—even the Spanish one.

  She sat up and stretched with a yawn, groaning inwardly as she remembered she had an algebra test that afternoon she hadn’t had time to study for.

  A smell reached her nose, cutting off her deep morning inhalation.

  Oh, no. Nana. Rebecca leapt out of bed and sprinted down the hall to the kitchen, where she stopped dead in her tracks at the doorway. Her mouth fell open as her eyes widened.

  Nana was standing next to the stove, scrambling eggs. In another skillet on the stovetop was the source of the smell that had awakened Rebecca...

  bacon frying. The table was set with two plates, forks, knives, napkins and glasses. Juice was poured. Nothing was on fire.

  The gorgeous blond boy she’d met the previous evening was sitting at the table. Dark, wraparound sunglasses covered his eyes, and Rebecca noticed the kitchen windows had been covered over with thick blankets from the linen closet upstairs, making the room dark. The only light came from the bulb in the vent hood over the stove, illuminating the food Nana was cooking.

  Toast popped up, making Rebecca jump.

  Syd raised an eyebrow at her over his glasses. “A fair morning to you, Acolyte.”

  “Oh, Rebecca, you’re up!” Nana said over her shoulder before Rebecca had a chance to return Syd’s greeting. “I hope I didn’t wake you with the noise. I tried to be quiet.”

  Rebecca shook her head, still staring. Nana was...making breakfast...

  like normal...

  “Oh, good,” Nana said as she reached for the butter dish and a butter-knife. She slathered each slice of toasted bread with a creamy yellow pat and set them on a plate. “Sit down. The eggs are almost ready. I was going to make biscuits, but I couldn’t find the flour.”

  “We don’t have any,” Rebecca replied, still struck by the sheer weird-ness of the scene. “I don’t know how to use it and so I haven’t bought any since I cleaned out the pantry last.”

  Nana nodded absently as she brought the eggs over to the table.

  “Well, we’ll have to get some more,” she said, scraping eggs from the skillet onto the plates. “I can’t make any kind of bread without it. I’ll need baking powder, too. And more butter. I saw baking soda in the back of the fridge, and though that’s probably still good for baking, I’ll need a fresh box of that too.”

  Rebecca just stared at her grandmother. Nana looked back at her with eyes that saw her clearly...like it used to be. Was it going to be like this every morning now while Syd was around? She hoped so.

  “Come on, Rebecca. Eggs are getting cold. Come and eat,” Nana urged, beckoning to her granddaughter with a gesture.

  “I promise I won’t bite,” Syd said.

  Rebecca scowled at him as she crossed the kitchen to one of the chairs and looked down at the plate Nana pointed to. The eggs looked and smelled normal. Nana obviously remembered she was an awesome cook. Rebecca glanced at Syd and sat down. “Uh...morning, Blondie.”

  “So it is,” he replied. “Morning for you, rather. This time is my night, past my usual time to retire. One of my kind should be well into rest by mortal sunrise. However, you are mortal, and we are not at the lair.”

  “I don’t get it,” Rebecca said. “If you should be in bed, why are you still here? Oh. Ryan, right? How is he?”

  “Rebecca,” Nana said. “Syd is still here because you need to start your training right away. I told you last night, I can’t help you. Now, get some breakfast in you. As for Ryan, he made it through the night and will need to be fed before you go to school. Syd was going to give you a quick lesson before you leave the prote—the house.”

  Nana met and held Rebecca’s eyes for a moment, then went to the stove and put the crispy strips of bacon on a plate with paper toweling before bringing it to the table. Then she brought the plate of toast over as well. “Would you like some jam for your toast?”

  “Just buttered is fine,” Rebecca replied without thinking. She refused to think about how both weird and awesome this was. She glanced at Syd as she picked up her fork. “I feel really weird, eating in front of you.”

  “Would you like me to leave?” Syd asked.

  Rebecca shook her head and reached for her orange juice. “No, it’s just...it seems rude. Hey...what are you doing?” Nana hesitated as she lifted her plate of untouched food from the table.

  “You and Syd have a lot to talk about, and there isn’t much time. I’d only be in the way. I thought I’d go and eat in the den. I’ve missed so much...I wanted to see the news. Besides, you have lessons to learn, and Syd is already sacrificing his well-being by staying up later than he should.” Rebecca wanted to protest. She wanted to say something about how much she’d missed something as normal as a regular breakfast with her grandmother, but Nana looked so happy at the idea of doing something as normal as catching up on the news. Rebecca didn’t have the heart to say anything against her nana’s wishes.

  “Thanks, Nana.”

  Nana smiled and continued on her way out of the kitchen with her breakfast.

  Syd watched the older woman leave the room and waited until she was gone before he turned back to the table.

  “My name is ‘Sydney’, Acolyte. Not ‘Blondie’. Sydney Alexander Cardoza, to be exact. Names have tremendous power. Do try to remember that.” Rebecca felt chastised, but couldn’t help wanting to ask a question. She swallowed her bite of toast, but before she could speak, Syd answered it.

  “I’ve known your grandmother for forty years,” he replied. “She is a very old and very dear friend.”

  How was it that he was wearing dark sunglasses that hid his eyes, but she could still feel them? Almost see them? His gaze seemed to bore into her, and she remembered what Nana had said about not looking a Master vampire in the eye.

  Rebecca nodded and went back to her eggs. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had a real breakfast. Usually it was just a glass of juice and a piece
of toast on the way out the door. She’d taken to bringing change to school to grab a Coke out of the vending machine before the first bell and chugging as much of it as she could before homeroom.

  Thinking about school made Rebecca wonder what story Robin had told her parents about what had earned her detention. They’d believe some lame excuse about talking on her phone too long in the morning or being in the bathroom fixing her makeup and not hearing the bell because she was listening to music, but Rebecca knew the truth.

  Robin was strange like that. She was pretty, popular, and gave everyone the impression she was a self-absorbed, superficial ditz, but really she was super-smart, got straight A’s, and had a heart of gold. What’s more, you could trust her to be there when you needed help, and Rebecca was grateful she had at least one person to talk to about what it was really like living with Nana.

  Robin was a great friend. Why she still hung around with Rebecca when everyone else had moved on from grade-school friendships was beyond her.

  What happened to her brother Pete was a long time ago, and it seemed like Robin was never going to forget how Rebecca had stood up for her against a group of older boys teasing her about Pete’s death.

  Of course, that presented a problem. She wanted to tell Robin all about Syd, and Nana being normal again, and Ryan, and...and...well everything. But...

  “But of course, you cannot, and who would believe you anyway, if you did?” Syd said, echoing Rebecca’s thoughts. “Few humans can perceive our world, even when and where it spills into their own.”